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Jon Isaacs
Postmaster
Reged: 06/16/04
Loc: San Diego and Boulevard, CA
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Re: Philosophy of Patience. Hence the Astronomer
[Re: lordgordons]
#5650405 - 01/29/13 02:03 PM
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No question, at least in my mind, that patience is the most important personal attribute needed in amateur astronomy.
Patience, determination and curiosity...
One might try year after year to see a particular object and never see it.
Jon
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Sonomajfk
member
Reged: 06/30/12
Loc: northern CA, USA
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Re: Philosophy of Patience. Hence the Astronomer
[Re: lordgordons]
#5650495 - 01/29/13 02:56 PM
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When I'm out under the stars, I'm always aware of the vastness, not only of the universe and its unfolding, but also of the time scale on which it unfolds... the enormity helps quiet and calm me, helps place all my life concerns in a much larger context. I almost always finish an observing session feeling much calmer, and yes, more patient.
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csrlice12
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/22/12
Loc: Denver, CO
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Re: Philosophy of Patience. Hence the Astronomer
[Re: Sonomajfk]
#5650570 - 01/29/13 03:23 PM
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Patience H***, I wanna view something...... 
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GeneT
Ely Kid
Reged: 11/07/08
Loc: South Texas
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Re: Philosophy of Patience. Hence the Astronomer
[Re: Daniel Guzas]
#5650811 - 01/29/13 05:41 PM
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Its sad that so few have looked up and seen the stars from truly dark skies.
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mfromb
super member
Reged: 12/13/12
Loc: Boston, MA
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Re: Philosophy of Patience. Hence the Astronomer
[Re: GeneT]
#5651143 - 01/29/13 08:49 PM
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I've found a striking similarity between visual astronomy and a principal hobby of mine, photography... but more specifically, macro photography.
They both hold my attention in the same ways. With your eye pressed to the eyepiece (viewfinder), taking great pain to achieve perfect focus, seeing subjects in a whole new light (pardon the pun), and getting lost in those moments that become minutes... and before you know it, you've spent an hour or two immersed in this other world, having achieved a degree of separation from the more common world around you and all of its entanglements.
In both cases, the best results seem to come from patience, and practice. The more you look, the more you really see. The more you see, the more you appreciate what it is you're seeing. And, when you get in that zone, where you've pretty much separated yourself and your thoughts from everything else, and you're just lost in that eyepiece or viewfinder, it's pretty therapeutic. Either in the form of stress relief, or the appreciation of how small we really are. Viewing the heavens has a lot in common with taking a macro view of the world beneath our feet. Both are amazing, and both are humbling.
I *thought* I would enjoy this hobby. I expected as much. What I didn't expect was the striking, and welcome similarities to macro photography.
This is a great outlet for that part of me that likes that sense of isolation and disconnect I get when peering through the lens, or eyepiece, and paying painstaking attention to what I'm viewing. Very different outcomes, of course, photographs vs. visual memory, but the process for obtaining them is very much alike for me.
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Mike B
Starstruck
Reged: 04/06/05
Loc: shake, rattle, & roll, CA
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Re: Philosophy of Patience. Hence the Astronomer
[Re: mfromb]
#5651162 - 01/29/13 09:05 PM
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Very well said, sir.
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galexand
super member
Reged: 07/10/12
Loc: Bloomington Indiana
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Re: Philosophy of Patience. Hence the Astronomer
[Re: Daniel Guzas]
#5654247 - 01/31/13 12:34 PM
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In a nutshell, that's why I love astronomy. I am often impatient or hurried, but not at the EP. I go out to my in-laws, a fantastically "darker" site, and it is hardly worth it to me to set up a telescope even so, because I'm always on a time-line out there. I take the polluted city skies instead because I can sit under them for hours without noting the time.
On the other hand, this is really bumming me out about winter. It is so cloudy that I hardly have any observing nights, and when I do have one, it is always the race to get lined up before my extremities start to freeze. Not patience-inducing at all.
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cadfour
member
Reged: 07/26/12
Loc: Melbourne, Florida
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Re: Philosophy of Patience. Hence the Astronomer
[Re: galexand]
#5654590 - 01/31/13 03:58 PM
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Has the sky cleared yet??? Has it gotten warmer yet???......Yes, i agree, we can be very patient. 
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